12, September 2019
Biya’s ‘dialogue’ for Ambazonia crisis runs into questions, rejection 0
President Paul Biya’s call for dialogue on the separatist crisis in Cameroon’s two anglophone regions was given a cautious welcome on Wednesday by some, although several separatist leaders swiftly and bluntly rejected it.
The 86-year-old president, apparently softening his stance, said he would convene a “major national dialogue” later this month.
It will “examine the ways and means to respond to the deeply-held aspirations of the populations in the Northwest and Southwest regions but also in all the other component parts of our great nation,” Biya said in a TV address late Tuesday.
His announcement came ahead of the second anniversary of the declaration of the “Republic of Ambazonia” — the self-proclaimed breakaway state for the two English-speaking regions where separatists have launched an armed campaign for independence from the majority French-speaking state.
More than 2,000 people have died, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) thinktank, while the UN says at least half a million have fled their homes. The cost to Cameroon’s economy, meanwhile, is mounting.
In a statement, the UN said Secretary General Antonio Guterres “welcomes the announcement” and “reiterates the readiness of the United Nations to support the dialogue process.”
“All Cameroonian stakeholders” should participate, it said.
- Separatist leaders jailed –
But many commentators said that if Biya’s overture is genuine, it will have little chance of headway so long as breakaway leaders remain behind bars or in exile.
In May, Biya’s prime minister had already said the government was willing to host a dialogue with the separatists.
Yet three months later, separatist leader Julius Ayuk Tabe was sentenced to life in prison along with nine of his supporters — a move that made the prospect of peace seem even more remote.
A leading Cameroonian anglophone lawyer and human rights campaigner, Felix Agbor Nkongho, gave Biya high marks for the openness of the proposed forum.
It would include members of political groups, civil society and religious groups, as well as representatives of the armed forces and armed rebel groups, according to the announcement.
“The call for an all inclusive dialogue is very appreciated,” the lawyer said in an interview with AFP.
But, he said, “the government should now allow anglophones of various political thought to mobilise, organise themselves and take part without fear of arrest or other punishment for their ideas.”
In the Southwest Region’s capital Buea, prominent local campaigner Blaise Chamango said the hosting of a dialogue was “something that people have been asking for for a long time.”
But he also pointed to a radicalisation of the pro-independence movement over the last three years, after Biya rejected more moderate demands for autonomy or a federal state.
“The separatists have become more radical, and everything that Yaounde (the government) puts forward is seen as a poisoned chalice.”
Peace would be impossible if the separatists are not given a seat at the table, he suggested.
- Separatist scepticism –
Biya’s offer was notably given an immediate thumbs-down by several separatist groups, gathered in an association called the South Cameroon Liberation Movement.
“We will not allow him to use a circus like this to lure the international community,” it said, calling on Biya to withdraw all troops and government officials from the two anglophone regions.
“We will not be party to any national dialogue. The period for dialogue died a long time ago,” Ebenezer Akwanga, a separatist leader, told AFP from the United States.
“We want a comprehensive negotiated settlement on the terms of separation. We will settle for nothing less!”
English speakers — who make up roughly one fifth of Cameroon’s 24 million inhabitants — mostly live in the two regions that were formerly a British colony until they were folded into post-independence Cameroon in 1961.
Anger at perceived discrimination by francophones against anglophones in justice, education and the economy has built for years.
Cameroonian newspapers that are sympathetic to the opposition also questioned the point of the exercise — “a dialogue with ghosts,” said one headline.
Biya, in his speech, made no reference to releasing jailed leaders, although he reiterated an offer to a “pardon” any separatists who voluntarily lay down their arms.
Those who refuse to do so will face “the full force of the law” and of the country’s security and defence forces, he warned.
Source: AFP
12, September 2019
Sudan, South Sudan say war no more an option 0
War is “no longer an option” for Sudan and South Sudan, their leaders agreed Thursday during talks which focused on border disputes and the oil trade, but also resolving protracted conflicts in both nations.
Sudan’s new prime minister Abdalla Hamdok met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on his first official visit since becoming premier, following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.
“I am very delighted to be here in my second home, Juba. We are looking for a very strategic, very distinguished relationship between our two nations, and the sky is the limit for this relationship,” Hamdok said upon his arrival.
After the two-hour meeting, South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Awut Deng said the two leaders had discussed issues that had never been resolved under the 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of war with Khartoum and paved the way to South Sudan’s independence in 2011.
This includes the demarcation of the border between the two nations, trade issues and the movement of citizens.
“I think the time has come for us in the two countries to silence the guns. War is no more an option for our people. We need to have peace, and sustainable peace in our two countries,” said Deng.
“We can only do this in an environment where all of us have agreed to come out with a road map and work for peace.”
‘Brothers and sisters’
South Sudan plunged into its own war two years after independence that has left almost 400,000 dead and displaced millions.
Tensions have also remained high between Khartoum and Juba over border disputes and the oil trade, however the two nations are increasingly moving to normalize ties.
“We are brothers and sisters. We have been one country and now we are two countries but we are still one nation and we hope to develop our relations,” said Sudan’s Foreign Minister Asma Mohamed Abdalla.
Analysts say the two nations have been pushed together by the grinding war in South Sudan — which has defied several peace attempts — and an economic crisis in Sudan, which was hard-hit by the collapse of the south’s oil industry.
The worsening economic crisis sparked nationwide protests that triggered the fall of Bashir.
One of Bashir’s last moves before his ouster was to broker a peace deal between Kiir and his rival, rebel leader Riek Machar, at a time when much of the world had wearied of trying to solve the crisis.
However, the 2018 peace deal has stalled as Sudan has been roiled by its own crises in recent months.
Observers are anxious to see if Khartoum’s new government will push Kiir and Machar to advance on the implementation of the deal.
The two men met this week in Juba for the first time in five months, with a power-sharing government meant to be set up by November.
Sudan’s conflicts
In a further sign of rapprochement between the two countries, Kiir offered in 2018 to mediate peace talks between Khartoum and rebels in the Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur conflict zones.
The Blue Nile and South Kordofan fought alongside the south for independence, however were left north of the border in 2011 and have continued their own insurgency against Khartoum.
Rebels in Darfur also waged a long war over marginalization in the western region.
Hamdok has vowed to end these conflicts which have left thousands dead and millions displaced.
This week armed groups from those areas held talks in Juba which ended Wednesday in the signing of a deal on “pre-negotiation principles” with Khartoum.
“We assure them and the people of Sudan in general that all the suffering and the killing and marginalization will end,” said General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, deputy chairman of the Sudan Sovereign Council.
(Source: AFP)